Cambridge director of rugby Ross Stewart has emphasised the importance of his side’s home form ahead of the National One season.

Stewart is overseeing his, and the club’s, second year in the division after promotion, having secured their status at the level last season.

A curious statistic about their maiden season was, despite finishing one place above the drop, only runaway leaders Hartpury bettered their bonus points tally, picking up 28 to Cambridge’s 18.

The difference was Hartpury went through the season unbeaten, while Cambridge only won seven games, four of which were at home.

And while Cambridge’s attacking flair doesn’t seem to have deserted them over the break, with a combined squad winning 33-7 over Leicester Lions before overcoming fellow National One side Bishop’s Stortford 47-36, there were still a few defensive hiccups which frustrated Stewart.

They also started the season with a convincing win away to Fylde. Yet, within an increasingly competitive league, without an obvious former championship contender because of London Welsh folding, Stewart knows that his team will have to be hard to break down at Volac Park.

He said: “It’ll be as competitive as ever. The teams coming up have been looking to invest and stay in National One and the teams who finished toward the bottom who were in a dog fight will be looking to avoid that.

“Coventry have made it very clear they want to win the league, and their spending reflects that, but then there’s teams like Plymouth who have a great little catchment area and a stable squad while others like [Birmingham] Moseley beat a Premiership side in Worcester Warriors a few weeks ago. Our home form will be so important. One of the frustrating things last year was that we didn’t do well enough at home so we’ll have to tighten things up.”

It’s been a summer of change at Volac Park, with club captain Stef Liebenberg and player-coach Dan Seal among those who have departed, while Mike Ayrton and Ean Griffiths have been appointed co-captains.

New, younger, players have come in to replace them, however, with particular attention on the scrum-half position vacated by Liebenberg.

A new front row will also be deployed as, alongside Seal, David Langley and Ricky Reeves left the club and most importantly a new emphasis has been placed on the second team, which will turn out in the Zoo Sports Shield, to ensure that players are consistently playing for the club, rather than being shepherded out on loan.

Stewart said: “I think the new players have fitted in really well. The players have bought in to things and the intensity they’ve brought has been quite infectious so the boys have picked up really well.

“There’s two ways our club can go about things. It can either have a squad of 25 that we invest more into or split the money. At the end of the day, Cambridge is a rugby club who also happen to have a successful first team.

“It’s not just about building one team, it’s about building foundations. The teams that do well in National One have strength in depth. It helps with recruitment, too, as players coming in know they’ll always play a good standard of rugby for Cambridge and even though we don’t mind loaning players out, we prefer them to wear the Cambridge shirt.”

Cambridge’s season kicks off away to Fylde, with their first home game of the season against Loughborough Students.